My last day at Malaysia Airlines

24th October 2011 was my last day at Malaysia Airlines.

I joined the airline on 3rd May 2010 and I thought that I would stay there until I retire. Or at least until I can become Area Manager UK. But it appeared that I'm destined to work somewhere else after 1 year 5 months in MH.

Actually my official last day is 3 November 2011 but since I had to clear my annual leave, my last day became much earlier.

My farewell notes goes like this:

I want to take a moment to let you know that today is my last day at Malaysia Airlines.

I have enjoyed my tenure here and I appreciate having had the opportunity to work with everyone in this department. Thank you for the support, guidance, and encouragement all of you have provided me during my time in RMD. Even though I've only been here for about 1 year 5 months, I've had the opportunity to work in 2 different areas within Revenue Management: Operations Research & Systems and Route Revenue. I've gained valuable knowledge pertaining to the airline industry. The training provided during my tenure here has also shaped me into a better, stronger person.

Oh, and thank you very much for the lovely farewell gift. Love it! I will be wearing the necklace and charm bracelet all the time from now, in remembrance of everyone here in RMD.

I will miss all of you, but I am also looking forward to this new challenge in the new phase of my career.

Please keep in touch, I can be reached at my personal email address:

Thanks again for everything.

Part of the note is Googled, part of it was inspired from others' farewell notes and part of it came from my heart :-)

At around 5.30pm, I walked around the office to say goodbye to everyone and took photos with some of them.

Since Fazilah is going to become a Flight Analyst, I gave her one last briefing/handover. There's not much I can teach her though, because our work processes are different because I was handling ASEAN routes while she'll be handling Domestic routes. But I hope whatever knowledge I had shared with her will be beneficial when she starts her new task next week!

After we're done with the short handover, we went out for dinner at Citta Mall. Fazilah helped to carry my things to my car. We ate and talked and then we went home. Before we went back, we said goodbye (even though I refused) and it was a very emotional moment for both of us. We hugged and promised to still keep in touch. Fazilah was the last person to be with me on my last day at Malaysia Airlines.

OMG, I am SO gonna miss having the authority to confirm/reject bookings & quoting the fare classes!

David Foster & Friends Concert

I got 2 complimentary tickets from Enrich to watch the David Foster & Friends concert on 23 Oct 2011 at Stadium Putra Bukit Jalil. So I dragged my fiance along with me to the concert.

Concert started at around 8pm and we arrived there around 7.30pm. We parked on the opposite side of the road because we thought the parking would be full, judging from the long queue entering the stadium.

The walk from our parking spot to the stadium took FOREVER. We missed the shortcut to the stadium (passing through the LRT station) and ended up taking a big turn to enter the stadium. By the time we arrived at the stadium, I was sweating and felt like cursing out loud. My makeup was ruined!

At the stadium, we tried to find the entrace. There were long queues everywhere. We walked around the stadium (such a torture because by then I already got blisters on my feet) and turned out that the long queues were for people whose tickets were priced at MYR153-183. Our tickets were worth MYR483 and the 'MYR483' sign was blocked by the concert banner!

So then we finally found our entrance. Fortunately, the queue was short. There was a security check though. Outside food and drinks were not allowed (lucky we didn't buy anything at the booth outside!).

Then, finally, we're in the stadium!

View of the stage using my 3.2MP phone camera :-p

The concert began with a slideshow of David Foster's greatest hits, namely songs by Toni Braxton, Whitney Houston, Celine Dion, Earth Wind & Fire, Michael Bolton, Chakra Khan, Josh Groban and Peter Cetera.

The concert began with Charice's performance. I haven't heard of the first 2 songs she performed, but Mr.Y claimed that the songs are hits (a sign that I should be listening to the radio more often). Then she sang Unbreak My Heart (Toni Braxton) and The Power of Love (Celine Dion) and her voice was just AMAZING.

Next, Dayang Faizah came onstage and sang this 1 song...I couldn't remember the title...sorry!

After Dayang, a girl named Anne went onstage and sang Through the Fire (Chakra Khan).

At some point during the concert, David Foster would come down from the stage and asked the audience to sing. Those selected people could sing very well and I believe that it's not as spontaneous as it seemed and that everything was planned and reheased.

Next to perform was Russell Watson who had big voice, very suitable to sing opera songs. I was not familar with the songs he performed. I only knew one song that he sang, the famous Josh Groban song - You Raise Me Up?

After Russell Watson was Ashanti's turn.She sang a medley of her own hits, then sang Whitney Houston's I Will Always Love You. Her vocal was impressive. She even brought her mum on this tour and her mum loved recording videos of everything. David Foster called Ashanti's mum up onstage and she captured the audience on her videocam. While her mum was running on the stage barefoot, Ashanti told her mum to be careful. It was cute.

After that, Philip Bailey came onstage. He played percussions and performed songs by Earth, Wind & Fire. It was great. When he performed 'September', the audience all got up and danced.

Last to perform was Michael Bolton. He performed his hit songs and did a duet with Charice (I couldn't remember the song). Before the concert ended, all the singers performed Michael Jackson's Earth Song.

The audience demanded for an encore and David Foster played a medley (or more like a teaser, because he played the songs bit by bit and didn't finish them completely) of his songs on piano. Then the concert ended.

I arrived home at 12am-ish and was super tired and sleepy and went straight to bed.

Funny Out of Office messages to leave before quitting your job

Found this funny article from a website called examiner.com. Enjoy!!! :-D

10 out of office messages you can use before leaving on your last day:

1. I will be out of the office and returning in 1-?? years. Please contact my manager with any questions until then.

2. I am no longer able to check my email. The company and I came to a compromise and I am no longer able to come within 500 feet of the building. In exchange, I will not serve any time. Thanks for your understanding and I hope you find what you're looking for, but it's very likely I stole it.

3. Dear friends and foes, it is with great pleasure that I tell you I will no longer be responding to your god forsaken emails as I no longer work for this company.

4. G'Day mate. Off to a place where the beer flows like wine and the women flock like the salmon of Capistrano.

5. I am no longer working for the company. My last day was MM/DD/YYYY. The date is only provided for you to witness how long it takes IT to shut down my email address.

6. I'll be back shortly. I had to step out for a quick lunch.

7. They say the grass isn't always greener on the other side of the fence. I am currently testing that theory. Wish me luck.

8. I recently quit this job because of emails from people like you. I hope you are happy.

9. Over the past X years, I have provided you with many answers. Many of you thought I was incredibly resourceful. I may be gone, but you can still find the answers to all of your questions at the link here.

10. I left the company to pursue my dreams. If you need to reach me, I'll be sitting on my couch watching TV.

Wedding invitation cards

Today my parents and I went to the management office of Dewan Merak Kayangan (I think the company is called Felda D'Saji or something) to discuss about my wedding reception. We were discussing about all my wedding requirement (actually more like my parents' requirement as they're the ones paying for my reception) such as the food, table layout, music, emcee etc.

Then we went to Bangi to order my wedding invitation cards.

So many great designs, I was spoiled for choice!

After thinking and comparing the cards, I was left with 2 designs. The first one is a simple card design with butterfly graphic embedded on the top right corner (simple and cute, matches my butterfly-shaped wedding favours) and another one is a more formal and classy kind of card.

Since I want my card to be presentable to all VIPs and the elderly, I chose the formal+classy card. Furthermore, my fiance already selected a 'cute' design for his reception invitation card so I thought it's a good idea if I go for a more 'serious' kind of design.

So...here it is, my wedding invitation card:

Well, not yet MY card because I still have to re-confirm the aturcara majlis with the card designer so this whole card-printing thing is still in progress. But my parents have paid the deposit though. Nice isn't it? Creme metallic paper with copper wordings and floral design.

The gorgeous floral design is printed inside too. The font colour is brown and first page of the card is the doa for bride and groom.

Second page is the aturcara majlis and the contact numbers of family members.

Third page - the invitation.

Fourth page - the map.

Close-up detail of the floral design on the top left corner of the card.

Bride & groom's names with wedding date printed in copper font.

Up close detail of the floral design on the bottom right corner of the card.

I just can't wait to see the final outcome of the card!

Miss Selfridge coat

I've been lusting after this coat for quite some time. The only thing that prevented me from buying it is the price (RM349).

Anyway, 2 weeks ago, I resigned from the company (yes, that's right!). My last day will be on 3 November, but I still got 6 days of annual leave to clear and I still haven't use my FOC ticket yet. So I'm planning to go to London on 27 October!

This trip gave me a reason to buy the coat. Today I went to Miss Selfridge and lucky me, there's only ONE left and it's in my size! I got a member discount card, so the price is RM314 after discount PLUS I got a free sling/shoulder bag AND a RM25 voucher redeemable at any Topshop/Miss Selfridge/Dorothy Perkins store.

Then I went to Dorothy Perkins and I bought a pair of black thighs. The price is RM33, but using member's discount it's RM29. I used the RM25 voucher as well, so the final price is RM4 only!!!

So today, I bought an expensive coat but I got a free handbag and fashion thighs at only RM4.

I just loveee shopping!